If the 75-foot shark in the new Jason Statham film “The Meg” scares the bejesus out of you, there’s a Blue Hen to blame.

The $150 million film, which first landed in theaters across the country Thursday night, is based on the 1997 sci-fi horror novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror” by University of Delaware graduate Steve Alten.

Alten, a Philadelphia native, got his master’s degree in sports medicine at UD in 1984. In development on and off for more than two decades, the wait is finally over for Alten, who has penned a string of follow-up books.

His tale that follows Navy deep-sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) has finally made it to the big screen. “The Meg” co-stars Li Bingbing and Rainn Wilson.

In “The Meg,” Statham’s character attempts to rescue underwater researchers following a shark attack. The deadly shark, called the Megalodon, was previously thought to be extinct.